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Encyclopedia - St. Etienne Gun

The St. Etienne 8mm heavy machine gun was
the product of a French government design and produced at the St. Etienne arsenal
- hence its name.

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Designed as an improvement upon an earlier failed 1905
Puteaux weapon, and based upon the
Hotchkiss, the
1907 30-shot St. Etienne was considered unreliable by the French army. It
was theoretically capable of firing 500 rounds per minute, although far fewer in
practice.

Weighing almost 26kg and inexpensive to manufacture (using inferior materials)
the St Etienne proved
prone to overheating. It would probably not have been deployed at all
during the First World War but
for the shortage problems affecting manufacture of the widely used Hotchkiss gun.

The St. Etienne was eventually entirely
withdrawn from service in 1916, deemed a complete failure.